SC's Hohler coaches best season yet: Coach of the Year finds rhythm for success

Friday

Nov 18, 2011 at 5:03 AM

By BECKY TENER

T-G Sports Writer

GREENWICH -- Like any successful musical group, a great volleyball team needs three things: a passion for the performance, the drive to practice and true talent. With all those traits intact, third-year South Central coach Sara Hohler finally found her rhythm.

"This year I was feeling more comfortable and finding my coaching style," Hohler said of her 16-7 campaign, the second-best record in the area. "... It made this season a bit smoother because I had started to learn the ins and outs of coaching."

"This year I also just had girls that wanted to play and would work hard to play their best," she added. "And the talent was there (so) we just had to put it all together."

Finding her rhythm, Hohler led her girls to SC's most successful season in six years, earning the 2011 Times-Gazette Coach of the Year honor -- the first Trojan coach to receive it since 2002.

In her three years as varsity coach, the Bowling Green State University graduate has seen a roller coaster of season highs and lows, accumulating a 36-33 record overall. The Trojans found some success in her first season (12-11) but took a step back in 2010 (8-15).

What could have discouraged Hohler and her team actually gave them the push they were looking for this season.

"I think a lot of people gave up last year. ... I think that everyone including coach (Hohler) was tired of being a mediocre team," Trojans sophomore Alli Hintz said. "I think she definitely pushed us harder this year, too. ... We wanted more."

"This year the girls came out and had a goal at the beginning of the season, 'We're going to work hard and we're going to push ourselves this season,' " Hohler said. "That's always nice to see as a coach."

With the work ethic there, the Trojans said all the team needed was Hohler's instruction and they knew they could achieve more in 2011.

Hohler and assistant coach Chelsea Blanchard's first change was a new style on the court, mixing up positions to get her girls involved and keeping the team from burning out.

"Once we mixed things up, good things started to happen," senior Alana Chandler said. "She knows how to push us but knew how to make things fun, too."

It was that added "fun stuff" Hohler incorporated into practice that really made an impact according to her team.

"It helped a lot. When you're having fun you actually want to win and actually want to play," Hintz said. "... because it's just fun and you're not losing all the time."

Another key to Hohler's success was her overall attention to detail. Her players said she strived to have a good relationship with each player and knew how to coach of them individually, which helped them learn better as a team.

In fact, attention to the little details is a trait Hohler tries to pass off to her players.

The Trojans went 9-5 in the Firelands Conference this season after going 6-8 in 2010. It was South Central's best performance in the powerhouse volleyball conference in five years, as the Trojans fell to eventual district runner-up and state-ranked Monroeville in the postseason.

Hohler said she didn't let her girls give up in those tough matches and sought to prove to them that they could compete with those teams.

"You have that Monroeville and that St. Paul at the top of the pack and they just come at you with all the intensity," she said, adding that her girls learned a lot from playing those schools. " ... We did a little admiring and ... we came back with some ways to do those little things well, too."

While Hohler said she was proud of the season, she added that very little of the success was her own making, but that of a combination of the sheer talent from a team whose median grade is a sophomore and the chemistry her team created on and off the court.

"We loved each other this year," Chandler said of the change in attitude from previous seasons.

"This year we just clicked," Hohler added. "And that made a huge difference."

Now, the Trojans look forward to next fall with a little extra confidence to continue their success.

"I knew that if we worked hard and stayed focused we'd have a successful season," Hohler said. "But also it was about us believing in ourselves and knowing that we knew we could be great. ... We're just looking for small steps to make the program successful and to get better every year."